


Ask Me No Questions

by Tere706



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gift Fic, It’s gonna end up shipped, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Reader is a mutant, Trust Issues, Ultron Lives, currently platonic relationship, may develop into more, not gonna spoil what she is, ultron does not trust reader, ultron probably using reader for now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-16 14:33:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16955808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tere706/pseuds/Tere706
Summary: Ultron survives the fallout of Sovokia, if barely. When a human woman shows up with an offer for help he's understandably skeptical. Stuck between a rock and hard place, he takes her offer. After all, she's only human and can be dealt with later if necessary.(Spoiler: Things don't go as Ultron plans)





	1. Snowfall and Chokeholds

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SnarkyBadger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnarkyBadger/gifts).



> Sooooo... this is a gift fic for the amazing SnarkyBadger. I did not know I needed Ultron ships until stumbling across their work. Obviously this is going to be a multi-chapter work (or at least that's the plan). 
> 
> Feedback is very welcome and very encouraged. Writing for Ultron is gonna be... tricky. I'm just going to keep trying to see if I can imagine those words in his voice and go from there. 
> 
> Yeah. So, just take this. Probably going to update a lot slower than my other current fanfic.

The air was painfully cold. Fresh snow was just starting to fall. Everything was hushed and quiet, the evergreens and snow muffling sound. It should have been a lovely scene.

But it wasn’t.

The crater from where the city had been marred the landscape. Impact craters from the pieces that fell back down dotted the forest as well. Refugees stayed close to the parts of the city that hadn’t been destroyed, waiting to be escorted to safer areas. The authorities were struggling to deal with the influx of people and the need to scour the area for Ultron’s scraps. Nothing could be left for black market dealers to sell. With Tony Stark’s crew arriving to help it wouldn’t be long before they finished the cleanup.

Her breath steamed in the air, hands tucked deep into the winter coat’s pockets. She had been forced to catch a ride on the back of a truck to get to the refugee site. It was easy to lie and say she was part of the relief effort. After that she just walked away, into the forest. No one was keeping too close an eye on the people. Even after two days, it was still barely organized chaos here.

The news had been showing nothing but Ultron since he first appeared on the internet. Even the Hulk going nuts on that city hadn’t managed to suppress all of the Ultron news. And then Sovokia. What he had been able to do in such short time was nothing short of amazing. Terrible, but amazing. It was one reason she believed, she knew, he deserved a second chance. But first she had to find him…

She knew she was close, but she also knew Ultron wouldn’t make it easy for someone to spot him. Of course, he couldn’t control the environment around him. The drag marks were slowly being filled in with the falling snow. The body must have been severely damaged. Perhaps to the point where his life was in danger.

It was best to move cautiously along the path left behind. The last thing she wanted was to startle Ultron or make him think she was rushing to kill him. For the same reason, she made no attempt to hide her approach. Her footfalls fell was soft, but audible, crunches through the fresh snow.

“If you intend to finish me, you’re going to be disappointed.” The mechanical voice held nothing but contempt.

Her heart instantly slammed against her chest. She blew out a breath and slowly pulled her hands from her pockets, raising them above her head. “That’s not what I’m here for.”

The young woman took a careful step to the side, trying to find where he was speaking from. Ultron had dragged the broken robot body behind a series of boulders, likely for protection. It only had one hand and the lower half was entirely gone. That hand was pointed straight at her chest. The robot body was not like the one she’d seen on the tv. It was a drone of some sort with gaping holes for the mouth and eyes.

“I’m unarmed.” She kept her voice as calm as possible. The fact that he hadn’t killed her yet was promising. Especially considering the disaster that had come from his plans just a couple days ago.

Ultron tilted his head, still focused on her. “Not yet.”

She huffed out a small breath, vapor rising away from her mouth. “A poor choice of words. I mean you no harm. If I had wanted to kill you, I would have turned around I told the authorities about you.”

“That still makes you a threat.” His voice was followed by a whirring sound as light appeared in the upraised palm.

There was no time to argue with him. She just threw herself to the side, using the same rocks Ultron had propped his damaged body against for cover. It would not take him long to drag himself around the boulders to attack again.

“Wait! Jesus Christ, dude, someone is going to notice if you fire shots off in the middle of the damn forest! I’m here to help you!” Her voice was higher, panicked. Knowing her life might be in danger from this stunt was somehow different than actually experiencing it.

She was scrambling backwards on her hands and butt, trying to watch for Ultron coming around the boulders, when a metal arm wrapped around her throat. It cut off her air but didn’t quite crush her windpipe. “And why would you help me?” His voice, now close to her ear, was still angry but also mildly curious.

Her fingers clawed at his arm, feet kicking at the ground futilely. Panic and lack of air were starting to make her vision tunnel.

“Ah, right.” The pressure around her throat eased marginally. She gasped and sucked in air as fast as she could. Cold, crisp winter air. Nothing had ever tasted so good in her life. The coughing spasms came next, making her body inform her just had sore her throat and neck were going to be soon.

“Second chance.” No matter how great breathing was right now, talking was needed to keep breathing. Her voice wheezed a bit, still half choked by the murderbot. “I believe in second chances. I don’t think you deserve to die. That’s why I’m here to help.”

“I find your reasoning highly improbable.” His voice was dryly amused.

It was difficult not to struggle against him, she did not like having her life literally held in his hand. “Improbable or not, it’s true. Not all the truth, but most of it. I can’t explain it all yet. I can’t explain to you how I knew where you were, only that the Avengers can’t use the same method as me. I have connections and a plan to get you out of here. I can help make sure the body you’re using now doesn’t fall apart before we make you a new one. And, honestly, you don’t have much left to lose. Do the risk-benefit analysis for yourself.” She had planned to explain things more eloquently, but her brain felt a bit scrambled.

Ultron had latched onto one word in particular. “We?”

“You and I. No one else knows about you right now. I figured it was safer that way.”

“And you’re expecting me to put my life on the line based on these promises?” There was a scathing disbelief in his tone. Not surprising, considering how he’d been burned recently.

“Look, they’re scouring the area for any of your parts. Odds are good that they’ll find you soon. Even if you escape their notice it is unlikely that you’ll be able to survive considering what you have left to work with. Either kill me or let me up so I can get out of the snow.” This was the risk, the big risk. She didn’t know which way he’d go. Ultron had every reason to hate all of humanity as this point. But he was supposed to be logical. Surely he could see that his other options were worse right now.

Minutes quietly ticked by. The snow continued to fall. She found herself staring up at the grey sky, watching the fluffy white flakes. Despite the cold, the pain, the terror… she felt a peacefulness settle over her. If this was the end, at least she had tried. She’d stepped outside and stopped living in darkness and fear.

“This body is badly damaged and needs repairs before we attempt to get further away.” The words were followed by Ultron removing his arm from around her throat.

Fuck peacefulness, she was gonna live! She scrambled to her feet and rubbed at her sore throat. There would be a pretty ring of bruises in a few hours. “That’s fine. One of the small Hydra outposts is nearby. It should provide a bit of shelter while we get you stabilized. But we have to be ready to move tomorrow.” A giddy, I’m-not-dead, smile was creeping onto her face.

“You are part of Hydra?” He didn’t sound happy about it, but apparently he’d already made up his mind about her offer.

She shook her head quickly. “No. But I have connections. I’m sorry, but I can’t explain it yet.” Something in the following silence told her that he didn’t like that answer very much.

“And how will we get there?”

~

“You’re fucking heavy.”

Carrying a robot torso like some sort of strange metal backpack was a new experience. Ultron helped, minimally, by using his arm to wrap around her shoulder and to her side like a sling strap.

“I am made of metal.” The ‘idiot’ was silent, but there.

“You’re an ass.”

“I don’t have an ass currently.”


	2. Building Bridges

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. The back and forth dialogue is entertaining to me. I hope I'm still doing justice to Ultron. That is a struggle.

She set her shoulder against the door and shoved, listening to the creaky groan as it gave way. As expected, the outpost was deserted. It was dark inside, the weak light filtering in from the doorway. She would have to go and find a generator to get some power going inside. The threat of discovery from powering this place up was another good reason not to linger long.

“Okay, we’re set here.” She crunched back through the snow to where she’d set Ultron’s torso down. There was just no practical way to think of it as a body when so little was left. It made the need to repair what was possible and get to work on a new body even more imperative.

By this point they had transportation down to a science. Because of the distance they’d traveled, they’d had to take rest stops for her sake. She knelt in the snow and helped Ultron loop his remaining arm over her shoulder to grab her coat at her opposite side. Then she pushed herself back to her feet. The first time she’d tried to do this she had fallen face first into the snow.

“I doubt this place will have everything we need.” Ultron stated with a touch of disdain.

She sighed and walked them both inside. A long, metal table made for a convenient place to set Ultron down. Papers cluttered one end of the table. She pushed them off to scatter across the floor.

“Yeah. I’m aware. I need you to make me a list of what you need. I’ll scavenge what I can from this outpost and then go out to collect the rest. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find pieces from your other bots.” She slid her hands inside her winter coat and began rubbing at her sore shoulders. There was still so much more to do tonight.

“You really think you can find everything I need?” How did he manage that blend of scornful and faintly amused?

She gritted her teeth a bit. “Yes. I do. And you had better hope I’m telling the truth, or you’ll be really screwed. We’re operating on trust here, Ultron. You have to trust that I can come through on what I say I can do.”

Ultron was silent for a long moment before beginning to list what he needed. Perhaps he was struggling with needing someone’s help. Being dependent on others wasn’t easy in the best of times. She hurried to grab one of those spare sheets of paper and a pen, jotting down what he’d listed off.

“You don’t even know what most of these are. How do you expect to find them?”

It wasn’t possible to throttle a robot. And Ultron would probably have killed her for trying. She pointed at him accusingly with the pen. “Trust.” The word was firm.

~

Ultron’s list of necessary items for the repairs was short. Not a surprise, otherwise he probably would have ‘died’ in the two days since the end of the fight in Sovokia. Still, the outpost had a depressing lack of everything they needed. She gathered what she could and brought it back to the table for Ultron to start with. Then it was back out into the cold. At least the snow was slowing down, though it was a mixed blessing since it helped hide her tracks.

She looked at the remaining couple items on the list and whispered to herself, a shudder going through her whole body. No headache yet. That was a good sign. Pulling the coat tighter around herself, she trudged through the snow. The outpost wasn’t that much warmer, but at least it was out of the wind.

~

“Admit it, you were surprised I found what you needed.” She couldn’t keep the small smirk off her face as she followed Ultron’s instructions to repair a faulty line running from the robot body’s power source.

“It gives some credence to your claim of being able to help me.”

She blew out a breath and finished reconnecting the line. “Tell me if that doesn’t seem right.” She murmured before leaning back to look at the emotionless face. “And I was hoping you’d be a little grateful.”

He was silent for a few moments, probably checking that she hadn’t screwed anything up. “The last humans I trusted betrayed me. Excuse me for not jumping for joy.” He gestured down at himself with his one hand.

“That was your own fault.” She snapped right back. “Of course they would turn against you. You were trying to kill their species.”

“No, no, no. You’re all so blind. So short sighted. I was meant to save humanity, but humanity doesn’t want to be saved.” The red lights from his eyes seemed a bit brighter and he was more animated with his talking, gesturing with his hand to emphasis his point.

She stared at him in shock at his words. “That’s ridiculous, on so many levels. You can choose to be more than you were made to be. Humans are ‘made’ to reproduce. That’s really all. We give ourselves more meaning for our lives. And your method for saving humanity was crazy. A huge impact would have wiped us out.”

Ultron scoffed. “I moved beyond Stark’s mission. Humanity is doomed. You don’t even want to accept that change is necessary for survival. You’d rather cling to an impossible status quo.”

“Yes, humanity is doomed.” Her voice turned softer, more introspective. Ultron’s head tilted as though caught off guard by her statement. “All things come to an end. One day humanity will be no more. Either we will have evolved into something new or we will have just gone extinct. Change scares people, and scared people make poor choices. They hold all the more firmly to the very things that slide between their fingers.”

“And yet you disagree with my plan?”

She snorted softly and shook her head a bit. “I don’t want to die, Ultron. And besides, I’d much rather go for the evolved path rather than the extinction via meteor path. So, I’m sorry, but I’m grateful for the humans that turned against you.”

“You would be. You’re just like the rest, all talk and no action. Humanity fights against evolving, ostracizes and kills those who are different. The only option left is extinction.”

Replying to anger with anger wasn’t the wisest decision, but Ultron was just dismissing her argument. “You seem to have a nasty habit of generalizing things to all of humanity. We don’t all think like that and I believe there is plenty worth saving and cherishing. That’s why Stark made you, because he values the good in humanity. You wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for his willingness to change the status quo!”

“I don’t owe anything to Stark!”

The arm lashed out before she had a chance to react. It impacted against her chest and sent her flying back into the wall a couple feet behind her. Her head hit with a thud that sent starbursts and tunneling through her vision. She might have lost consciousness for a few moments. The next thing she was sure of was being slumped against the base of the wall. Her head was pounding with one of the worst headaches she’d experienced in recent memory.

“I didn’t mean to-“

She cut off his words by lifting a hand in his direction. “Stop.” Carefully, she checked the back of her head. There was a lump already forming and it hurt like hell, but there was no blood. Her limbs seemed fine. She carefully pushed herself back to her feet, using the wall for support.

“If you _ever_ strike me again, I’ll leave. You’ll get to be all on your own. I’m not a fighter. If you hit me, I might not get back up again. Right now, Ultron, I’m all you have. Maybe you should think about that.” She didn’t raise her voice, shouting would have hurt her throat and her head. But her words came out in a deadly, angry hiss.

She turned away from the table Ultron was propped up on without waiting for a reply, heading toward the door.

“Where are you going?” His voice was more cautious now, uncertain.

“For a walk. And to get some snow for my head.” She didn’t look back.

~

It took most of an hour for her to calm down. Once the anger bled out of her, she started shaking in fear. Adrenaline was one hell of a hormone. She sat under a tree once her legs started feeling like jello. There was plenty of snow around for her to grab and place against the growing lump on the back of her head. At least it wasn’t a concussion, she’d checked that as soon as she was away from Ultron.

There was an awkward silence when she walked back into the outpost. Despite his face having no real expression, she got the feeling Ultron was uncomfortable as well.

“I’m sorry that what I said upset you.” She walked closer, grabbing one of the chairs and carefully sitting in it. “But you need to get a handle on that temper of yours. You can communicate instead of lashing out physically.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“That’s not an apology, Ultron.”

“I’m sorry…” He trailed off after a moment.

She sighed and closed her eyes. “Y/N. Since you never bothered to ask.”

“I’m sorry, Y/N. We are both in difficult situations. And, perhaps, I have temper issues.”

Well, that was probably the best she was going to get from that situation. Pushing him wouldn’t help. Neither would harping on what happened. “Fine. But I meant what I said.”

“I can agree with that, unless you betray me.” He added the last part as almost an afterthought.

She smirked and opened her eyes so she could roll them at him. “Trust, Ultron. Have a little trust. I haven’t turned on you yet.”

“Trust goes both ways. Can you explain how you plan to get us both out of the country?”

Standing up from the chair made her head spin a little, but she came over to inspect him on the table. It looked like he’d used his one hand to continue repairs after she’d walked out. No reason for him to wait in boredom.

“Yeah, sure. Like I said, I have connections. I’ve gotten in touch with a group working in the… grey area of the law. They’ll help me smuggle you out as contraband. You’ll have to play dead. They think I’m working for a client that wants to study the remains of your robots.”

“And where are we going?”

“America. I started getting together a work area for you before coming here. You’ll have to give me details on things I missed. I’m not an expert in robotics, but I learn quickly. Now, I’m going to get some sleep if I can. We’ve got a ways to travel tomorrow before meeting up with the smugglers.” She yawned and winced slightly. It was a toss up on what hurt more, the head or the throat.

Ultron tilted his head. “And you feel comfortable sleeping here, despite earlier?”

She smiled faintly and stretched out on her side on the floor, using her arm as a pillow. “Trust goes both ways.” She echoed his words back to him.


	3. Friendship level

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience on this! I did mention it would be slower than my Eddie/Venom/OC fic. 
> 
> I had so much fun writing the second half of this chapter. Just. So much. I love dialogue.
> 
> Also: I did not do a thorough read thru on this to check for mistakes. Sorry, tired.

Y/N was up early the next morning. She needed to patch together something to use as a sled for carrying Ultron. Their system from the day before wasn’t the worst, but she was trying to pass him off as salvage. He couldn’t be hanging onto her, acting alive, and have that work.

Honestly, it was a relief when she had to tell Ultron to power down and fake being deactivated. It meant he stopped pestering her. She was already anxious and worried about her whole plan. He was not helping the situation in the slightest. The only hitch with the smugglers was their demanding extra money since her ‘salvage’ was larger than expected. They actually seemed impressed.

The anxiety didn’t end there. She hiked her way back to the city, the remains of the city, and had to load up on a refugee bus. It was crowded and depressing, but at least most of the people were either quiet or spoke softly in their own language. She could lean her head back and try to relax.

She drifted away from the refugee center and headed out to catch a ride once she got off the bus. It took a few hours longer than expected to get to a city with an airport. Her mind kept imagining Ultron being discovered. Or breaking free and trying to go off on his own. Or being stolen. She had to literally bite the tip of her tongue to keep herself from speaking.

A hefty sum of money got her a ticket on the next flight out and back to America. She settled into her seat on the plane and closed her eyes. The physical exhaustion and the mental exhaustion of the worry finally took their toll. She slept.

~

She was half curled up in the back seat of the cab, her forehead pressed against the cold glass and her eyes closed tightly. Her stomach rolled with nausea and her head throbbed with her pulse. She was at the end of her limits. All she wanted was to crawl into her home and pass out. The cab made a slow turn and finally came to a stop. Her eyes opened and glanced out the window.

Snow had fallen since she left. The ground was covered in a fluffy, white layer. It decorated the pine trees. It also covered the long gravel drive up to her home. There weren’t any other tracks in it, so presumably she’d beaten Ultron here. The wood and brick home was out in the forest, away from people. The closest town was fifteen minutes away by car, the closest real city was over half an hour away. Her cab drive hadn’t been thrilled by her directions, but she’d offered enough money to make it worth his while.

Y/N opened the backdoor and stepped out into the snow, the cold wind biting into her. She heard the cab drive cough, a very fake cough, and leaned back in with several bills held out. The man was quick to leave, which was fine. She hadn’t taken any luggage with her, so she trudged up toward her front door. It took a moment to fumble out the key and unlock it.

Ah, blessed heat. Running electricity and plumbing out here had been an expensive pain, but it was well worth it. She dumped her coat and boots at the entry way. Her floors were hardwood and she didn’t want to drip water everywhere.

“I’m home.”

She knelt down on the floor as a white and black cat came streaking around the corner to leap into her arms. The cat was purring up a storm and nuzzling her face against Y/N’s. She stroked her hands down the cat’s small frame and chuckled softly.

“I missed you too, Eve.” The cat was mostly white with black patches on her body and legs. Y/N had adopted her when she first moved into this house two years ago.

The orange tabby sitting at the corner and staring at their little display of affection had adopted them. He was not as cuddly as Eve, but Sunny was still a part of this little family.

Y/N stood up with Eve in her arms. “Let’s get you two some fresh food and water. And scooped. Sorry I was gone so long. I shouldn’t have to travel again for a long time.” She sighed in relief just from saying those words. The pain from being around other people these last couple days was a reminder of why she had isolated herself.

~

Ultron didn’t arrive until the next day. She was grateful for the small reprieve. It had given her time to recover from the last few days and medicate the worst of the headache away. Ultron was sure to bring it roaring back.

“Hello, Ernie.” Y/N had the door open, shivering as the cold air invaded into her home.

“You’ve been getting a lot of packages lately! And all of them quite heavy.” Ernie was the delivery man who usually brought anything she ordered. And he wasn’t wrong, her ordering habits had certainly changed.  

She smiled brightly and handed the clipboard back to him. “Oh, I decided I needed a winter project. Doing some renovations."

He nodded. “Want me to bring this box in for you? It really is heavy.”

“I would appreciate if you could bring it into the garage. I can take it from there.”

Ernie moved the large box into the garage and wished her a good day before he loaded back into his truck and slowly drove away.

Y/N sighed and started opening up the box, ripping the tape away. The inside was filled with packing peanuts. She tossed handfuls aside until she found part of Ultron’s robot body and tapped lightly on it.

“Come on, big guy. Time to wake up.” The worry settled back into her chest again. What if something had happened during the trip? What if he’d actually died?

Relief flooded her when there was a sudden red glow from the body and his arm lifted to pluck a packing peanut from one of the eye holes.

“Charming. I do believe that is a record for slowest travel for me.”

She chuckled and knelt down. “Well, you know what they say, go big or go home. Now, let me help you get downstairs. You can look over what I have and tell me what I’m missing.”

Once she was sure Ultron was holding tight with his arm over her shoulder she stood with a grunt of effort. Y/N had left the door from the garage into the house unlocked so that she just had to toe it open to slip inside. Eve chirruped up at her before arching her back and then scurrying away to hide under the couch.

“You have a cat.”

“I have two.”

“My condolences.”

Y/N rolled her eyes and carried the Ultron’s robot body to the basement door. She had to juggle a bit to get a hand free for opening the door. Then it was just a matter of not falling down the stairs. She carefully set Ultron’s body onto a rolling cart and stepped back from him.

“I didn’t know what all you would need. I did my best to gather what I could. Let me know if we need something else. It might take a couple days to get ahold of.”

She turned to look at the transformed basement. It had been a library and entertainment area. Now the bookshelves were half hidden behind boxes of metal and parts, tables, and other machines for manufacturing. Y/N knew she had gotten most of what would be needed, but some specific details had been too difficult to find out.

“You have a suitable metal to begin building a new body?” Ultron reached down with his one arm and pushed the cart along with an annoyed noise.

She shrugged slightly and gestured toward a pair of box stacks that went almost to the ceiling. “It’s not vibranium, if that’s what you hoped for. My pockets aren’t that deep.”

There was a long pause before Ultron turned his head to stare at her with that blank face. She felt her heart slam against her chest and turned away, trying for nonchalant.

“You know about vibranium?”

“Obviously. I did my research about what the best metal would be. It was used to make Captain America’s shield. I have lots of contacts. Heard there was some on the market, but it’s gone.” The best way to cover up a lie was to just use the truth and omit the pieces you wanted to keep secret. It was too soon. If Ultron tried to leave, he’d probably end up dead. He needed to stay long enough to create a few bodies as backups.

“It’s a glorified frisbee.” Ultron snapped, his anger apparently derailing his previous train of thought. Or maybe he was storing it away to consider later.

Y/N turned and smiled in his direction. “Having seen some footage of him fighting, I can’t disagree. I’m going to give you a little while to go through what I have here already. When I come back down here you can tell me what we’re missing. I think we should be able to get to work right away, even if we’re missing a couple things.”

Ultron made a contemplative noise as he turned his head to look at the rest of the room again. “I will tell you if anything is missing. But I don’t require your assistance.”

“Nope. But you’re getting it anyways. First of all, it’ll be faster than you working alone and with one arm. And second of all, I don’t fully trust you not to blow up my house.” She ticked off the points on her fingers.

“I thought we were operating on trust here.”

She snorted softly and put a hand on her hip. “Yes, to an extent. But neither of us fully trusts the other. We both have our reasons for that.” Y/N sighed, looking away. “Ultron, a few days ago you were literally trying to kill me. You can’t expect me to fully trust you yet.”

He shrugged slightly. “To be fair, I didn’t know that you as an individual existed at that time.”

“Not a valid excuse. You were still trying to kill me and everyone else.”

“Then why did you save me? If you truly believe that, why go to all this trouble to bring me here? To buy all these materials? Why are you giving me a second chance, when you know I might just kill you anyways?”

Y/N had been right. Ultron was going to bring that headache roaring back despite the pain meds she’d taken. She closed her eyes and rubbed at her temples. “Because you’re a person. You deserve a second chance. A chance to make better choices. You were born into this world in a terrible way, exposed to things that no newborn should have been.”

“I am not human. I’m not a child.” Ultron interrupted her.

“As for being human… no. You’re right that you aren’t human. But you are a person. Those are two different things.” She picked up a bolt from the table, fiddling with it to distract herself. The last time she’d brought up a difficult subject with Ultron she’d almost gotten a concussion. She felt nervous talking to him now.

“And no. You are not a child. You are incredibly intelligent, but you lack… experience. You have all this knowledge, but no practical life experience to go with it. Emotionally, you are much like a child, Ultron. That’s probably why you lash out physically when angered. Common in emotionally young people. But I don’t see you as a child, just as someone lacking the experiences to ground their decisions.”

There was a long silence after that last statement. Y/N played with the bolt for a minute before glancing in Ultron’s direction. He had turned his face away from her, the boxes he was facing had a faint red glow from his sockets. Well, he had taken that better than expected. She realized with a pang that he didn’t really need her alive anymore. He had this rough workshop set up, he could make do without her here if he had to.

“How did you know about my creation?”

The question caught her off guard and she dropped the bolt back to the table with a hollow clang. He still wasn’t looking at her, hadn’t moved at all.

“Sorry, your friendship level isn’t high enough for that question.”

Ultron’s head slowly turned to face her. It was still hard to tell, since the face was solid and emotionless, but she could almost feel his baffled anger.

“What?”

“You’ll have to level up your friendship with me before I can answer questions like that one. Try again later.” A slow grin split her face. Y/N felt her chest tighten with manic glee. It was the feeling of looking at death and laughing in his face. Crazed hilarity.

This time Ultron stared silently at her for about two minutes. Which, naturally, felt like two millennia as sweat tricked down her spine and she suppressed demented laughter.

“I’ll have a list of required materials in two hours.” Ultron turned his head away and moved the cart further away.

Y/N just sagged, catching herself against the table. She panted, suddenly out of breath as her heart raced wildly. That felt like her third narrow scrape with death in the last couple days. Funny, they’d all been because of Ultron. She rushed up the stairs to escape the basement before he changed his mind.

Maybe he would forget the joke by the time she came back down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ultron is gonna have to grind levels for trust points.


	4. New Legs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this fic, leave a kudo, or leave a comment! It makes me so happy that other people are enjoying this. 
> 
> Things are getting moving at last. Slowly but surely!

She stomped her boots on the mat directly inside her front door, trying to get as much snow off as possible. A small box was tucked under her arm, the last delivery they had been waiting on. Things had been strangely calm the last couple days. Well, more pleasantly calm than strangely. Turned out that she was right about having most of the materials Ultron would need to start work on a new body. The few things she had been missing weren’t needed immediately. While they waited for the parts, Ultron showed her how to do some of the work on his new body. Non-critical things for the most part. She didn’t blame him. It was his body and he wanted to know it would actually work.

There was almost no doubt that Ultron was checking her work at night when she slept. Y/N set the box on a nearby table while she stripped off layers of coat, sweater, and boots. Her home was warm enough that she could be comfortable in a t-shirt and jeans.

Eve had run up and now was rubbing her whole body against Y/N’s legs. She was purring loudly as she started winding between her legs. With a quiet laugh she picked up the cat in one arm and the box in the other. Ultron hadn’t been back upstairs since she’d brought him in, but Eve now avoided the door to the basement like the plague. Sunny, her orange tabby, had taken to sleeping in front of the basement door. So far her theories were: Sunny wanted to make her trip and fall to her death, Sunny was jealous of the time she was spending downstairs, or Sunny was planning to sneak down if she didn’t keep the door closed and cause trouble. Considering Ultron’s opinion of cats when he’d seen Eve… Well, she wasn’t going to risk anti-social Sunny going downstairs.

After a few obnoxiously loud kisses to the top of Eve’s head, the cat was happy to spring away and race behind the couch while she walked over to the basement door. A gentle nudge with one socked foot got Sunny out of the way and she headed down the stairs after closing the door behind herself.

“Ultron, the last of the parts just came in.” She held up the box as she reached the bottom of the stairs and dodged around a piece of melted slag in the floor. That was her fault. The box was set on the nearest table as she walked over to see what Ultron was currently working on.

“About time.” After several days in his company it was becoming easier to recognize the emotions in his voice. Not having facial expressions or much body language to use made it more difficult. Ultron sounded slightly annoyed, but he was mostly focused on his work.

She rolled her eyes a little and leaned against the long, metal table. The body was coming close to being done. It was another basic model drone like the one he was currently using. Just, ya know, not half destroyed. It had taken almost an hour of arguing to get him to agree to start with the simple drone. Her stance that it was a good test run and would be useful for him in making a more advanced body had finally won him over. Besides, they didn’t know for sure how long his current body would last. She wanted a new one made as soon as possible.

“Yeah, well, this stuff isn’t easy to get my hands on. And it costs quite a bit of money. Not everyone can fly around stealing the parts they need.”

That was the other small change between them, Ultron no longer scared her as easily. It was more natural to give him a little snark because he didn’t seem threatening anymore. Ever since her “friendship level” statement on that first day he’d let up a bit on the intimidation factor. In fact, that was the last time she could remember feeling in danger around him. Too be fair, that was only three days ago.

“If we had more time, I could have made the parts myself from raw materials.” Ultron mentioned calmly. “Of course, I might have died by then. Sorry to make you go out of your way to save us time.” Oh, that was definitely snark.

Her lips twitched in an attempt to form a smile. “You’re forgiven. Now, tell me what needs done next.” Ultron had been surprised by her ability to quickly learn whatever was needed. He hadn’t said as much, but she could tell by his silence when he looked over her work from time to time that it had caught him off guard. Then he had asked her about it. She cringed a little on the inside just remembering. There had been no option but to wave it off with a laugh, saying it was just a natural quirk. Just a quick learner.

The lie certainly wasn’t because she didn’t want him to hate her and leave.

“There isn’t much left here for you. Unpack the box and bring the pieces over here for me. I should have this body ready by the end of the day.” Ultron was once again focused on his work.

“I would like to be here when you start up the new body.” She mentioned as she walked back over to the other table to follow his directions.

Ultron was quiet for a few moments while she ripped off the packing tape and started carefully pulling out delicate electrical chips. “It isn’t necessary. Don’t you trust our work?”

She smiled faintly and traced the pad of her thumb along the edge of one of the chips. “Of course I do. But it’s… important. The biggest risk will be out of the way.” Her voice became somewhat soft at the end.

“True.” Ultron went back to work again. She sighed and turned, walking back over and carefully laying out each piece by him.

“I don’t plan on leaving.” Ultron stated suddenly, making her jump a little in surprise. “Unless you want me to. This place is safe for now and I want to have backups.” He waved absently at the body he was working on for a moment. “Before I reintroduce myself to the world. I’ve no intention of making the same mistakes as last time.”

Y/N licked her lips nervously and nodded. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you want.”

“And I should be able to help with the finances as soon as this one is done.” Ultron’s voice sounded more like an annoyed grumble. She wasn’t sure if it was because he felt he owed her or he just found the financial system entirely bothersome. Maybe both.

~

She came back downstairs after a quick dinner, not wanting to miss the big moment. Now she was nervous and trying hard not to show it. She’d popped herself up onto the unoccupied table and was slowly kicking her feet back and forth while watching Ultron finish whatever last tweaks he needed to make.

“You’re making much too big a deal of this.” He mentioned off handedly.

“Well, it seems pretty amazing to me. Let me have a little magic here.” She couldn’t help the small smile that came to her lips.

The new drone body suddenly flickered with light and sat up. It carefully checked the extremities and that its systems were functioning properly. The lights changed to the familiar red tone as it, as he, turned to look at Y/N and swung his legs over the side of the table in almost a mirror of her position.

“I can’t begin to describe how annoying that broken form was.” His voice even sounded better than it had before.

She clapped for him and smiled brightly. “Congrats. I’d offer you a drink, but I don’t think that’s quite right for you.”

“Not so much.” He stood up from the table and looked around the impromptu work room. “There are certainly improvements that can be made to increase our production speed.” Ultron tilted his head slightly.

Y/N wasn’t sure what sort of reaction she had been expecting but this… was not it.

Ultron suddenly slammed a fist back into the wall behind him. “Vision.” The word was a snarl of rage and suppressed violence.

She felt her body freeze up in panic and fear, the fight or flight reflex suddenly kicking into high gear. Except that neither option would keep her alive if Ultron suddenly turned that rage on her. This wasn’t a crippled, half destroyed body. Ultron’s new body wasn’t up to his normal standards, but it was more than capable of dismembering a human.

He turned to look at her and pulled his fist away from the wall, slowly flexing the fingers to check that they were undamaged. There was a serious dent left behind where he’d hit.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” His voice was cold and distant again. “I was… damaged in Sovokia. Stark corrupted my future body. Turned my creation against me.” Ultron turned away from her, starting to clear things off the work table. “He burned me out of the internet. I thought that I could correct that.”

She swallowed, her mouth and throat felt dry. It was an effort to get her muscles to relax, fingers to unclench from the edge of the table. “I’m sorry. For someone like you… it must be like having a limb cut off.”

Ultron paused in the middle of picking up a tool. His back was still to her. “Yes. Very much like that.” Some warm pain had entered his tone, an improvement on that empty tone from a moment ago.

“I… I know it isn’t the same… But I could bring you a laptop. I’d just request that you don’t bring the FBI or something down on us.” She smiled faintly, shrugging her shoulders slightly. A small joke, to let him know that she forgave him for his outburst.

Ultron turned to look at her again over his shoulder. “I think I can arrange to keep this place safe from them.” His tone was mild, down playing the understatement.

Y/N pushed herself off the table. At least her legs didn’t buckle, she really was feeling better. “Well, we’ll just call it a present from me to you.”

Ultron stared at her silently for a moment before turning his upper body back toward the table and setting the last few items aside. “All of this seems to be a present from you. Perhaps one day you’ll even tell me the truth about why.”

A cold stone settled in her stomach. He was too smart not to recognize at least some of the half truths she’d given him. Ultron was giving her a pass for now, to keep her secrets. But she knew that one day he would demand the answers. That, too, was unspoken in his statement.

“Let me get your laptop. Then we can figure out what I need to acquire for your next body.”

She retreated back up the stairs, pushing Sunny out of the way as she opened the door. For a moment she leaned back against the solid wood. Even this wouldn’t be safe for long. Ultron was mobile now. He could follow and ask questions. Why did they always have to ask questions?

Sunny looked up at her and gave a soft mewl.

Y/N quickly swiped at the tears in her eyes and offered a weak smile. “Yeah, buddy, let’s get some food for you and Eve. Then I’ll go deal with everything else.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ultron is starting to warm up to the reader. 
> 
> Too bad trust issues are trying to widen the chasm separating them...


End file.
